Faust pried the Jackal jaw free of his arm, hissing as his arm trembled. "That stings."
But he didn't go into shock or faint. Immediately the bloody, mangled arm began to heal. His blood store reduced a little and in return Blood Regeneration erased the injury.
The bleeding stopped after five seconds, and after ten all that was left was scar tissue.
Ignoring the pain, Faust dragged the crushed jackal still connected to his Slime Tether towards the hill.
The Level 3 Jackal growled menacingly, unconcerned by how its pack had been brutalised or how coldly the human treated its mortal injury.
It lunged, moving so quickly even Faust was surprised.
He jumped back, retracting his tether and whipping it forward hard. The Jackal jumped out of the way as the broken body of its comrade barrelled past it.
It zipped side to side unpredictably as it approached so Faust gave up hitting it with his tether and just retracted it. He could use the body as a shield.
But the beast severed his tether with a swipe of it's claws.
Oh. You did not just do that.
He dodged the jackal's first bite and then slipped under its claws to slash open its neck.
But the beast was agile and smart.
It caught his blade with its teeth,, and slash into Faust's arm open with its claws.
"ARGH!" he hissed, but smiled into the Jackal's face. "Tricky bastard!"
But it had gotten too close.
Faust used Acid Shot in its face.
The blue acidic mist made the Jackal jump back yelping, but it didn't quite burn like the others.
So Faust shot forward and slashed its belly open. It bled out quickly, but Faust jumped down at it quickly and started draining Attributes. He held the dying beast down by it's neck.
[You have gained 3 points of Strength]
[You have gained 5 points of Agility]
[You have gained 3 points of Spirit]
[You have killed "Bronze Jackal" and gained 10 experience points.]
[Rewards have been placed in your equipped Spatial Bag.]
Faust sighed. Attribute was a hard skill to use against strong opponents when they were trying to kill you.
But it would be all worth it. He looked down at the wooden chest and appraised it with trembling expectations.
[Bronze Treasure Chest: May contain the following rewards: Skill stones(0-2), Enhancement stones(0-2), 1x Special items or Skill scroll.]
So it was a lucky roll, you could get varying rewards depending on luck. Faust had a wolfish grin on his face.
But he had the 100% Drop Rate system.
He placed a hand over the chest and poured in his mana. It snapped open unceremoniously, a swirl of white light trapped within it.
[Rewards have been placed in your equipped Spatial Bag.]
With that the chest closed again.
Now let's hope that theory is true.
He willed the system to display his rewards without further ado.
[You have killed 6x "Bronze Jackal" and gained 35 experience points.]
[Origin coins: 25.]
[Bronze Jackal Core x6]
[4x Bronze Jackal Essence: Consuming will increase Agility by 2.]
[3x Bronze Fangs: Ingots of bronze that can be used to smith weapons or tools.]
[You have gained 1x Skill Stones.]
[You have gained Skill book (Severe Hit)]
[Jackal Dagger (Bronze): A handy dagger that can pierce stone easily. +5 Strength +10 Agility]
The drop rates for this group had been a bit different. Maybe because of the Level 3 Bronze Jackal, or the fact it was a small zone boss.
But now he had two Jackal daggers and another Skill book. He could combine his daggers to improve the stats it gave him, but the chance it failed and disappeared was too high.
I rather just keep my Dagger.
He consumed the four essences without a second thought at this point.
[Agility: 85 > 93(+20)]
Then he moved onto the rewards from the Bronze Treasure chest and a wide grin tugged at his lips.
[Origin Coins: 200]
[ 2x Skill stones: can be used to upgrade skills.]
[ 2x Enhancement stones: can be used to upgrade equipment.]
[White Traveling Cloak (Bronze): +10 Strength, +10 Constitution, comes with the "Journey Wind" movement skill. Requirement: Level 2]
[Dark Maw (Iron): Condenses mana around weapons to create a shadowy maw that bites down on the enemy for great damage. Requirements: 20 Spirit. Cooldown: fifteen seconds]
Faust chuckled. "Staying back to check the entire field was a good idea."
With all these his power jumped dramatically. He would wager that this much combat power wasn't normal for a level 3 player.
He pulled out the cloak and equipped it immediately. It was pure white and simple, long enough to just stop above his ankles and a simple hood he kept down for now.
[ You have equipped "White Traveling Cloak."]
[Constitution: 133 (+10)]
[Strength: 48 (+15)]
[Combat Power: 294 (+35)]
He poured mana into the Dark Maw skill book without looking at it much. It turned into a flash of white like and suffused his body.
[You have learned "Dark Maw" skill]
Raising his hand and channeling mana into the skill, black energy swirled around his hand briefly. Faust smiled, eager to use this skill already.
As for the three skill stones…. He could upgrade Appraisal to level 3 or Stealth to Level 2 with two.
Acid shot and Severe Hit also required just one skill stone to reach level 2. Dark Maw needed two.
To him the main choices were Dark Maw and Stealth for two skill stones. Dark Maw was his only straight Offensive skill and it seemed like it would help against larger enemies.
But Stealth synced well with his high Agility. Dark Maw likely scaled with Strength or Spirit. Being faster directly helped him avoid eyes and a higher Stealth skill would make him harder to track.
And he was going into a forest. Hiding and performing sneak attacks was a good strategy.
Okay. Stealth first. Dark Maw once I get two more skill stones, followed by Acid Shot for 1 skill stone.
[Congratulations! You have upgraded "Stealth Lv1" to "Stealth Lv 2".]
[Stealth Lv2 (Iron): Provides you with innate intuition of how to hide your presence. Warns you of approaching eyes.]
[Congratulations! You have upgraded "Acid Shot Lv1" to "Acid Shot Lv 2".]
[Acid Shot Lv2 (Bronze): Generate a spray of acid from any body part. Reduced effect against the user. Cooldown: ten seconds. (Acidity enhanced.)]
An early warning system and stronger acid? Faust nodded enthusiastically. Ideas immediately started to form in his mind on how to exploit them.
Next were the Enhancement stones. Using them on his Basic Naginata wasn't the best idea, especially as he might get another weapon as a reward sooner or later.
Damn it. I hope I get a spear next, switching weapons constantly would be very annoying.
Upgrading Jackal Dagger was smarter as the improvements the equipment gave his attributes would rise. There was also Slime Tether.
[Congratulations! Your "Jackal Dagger" and "Slime Tether" has been enhanced]
[Jackal Dagger +2 (Bronze): A handy dagger that can pierce stone easily. +10 Strength +15 Agility]
[Slime Tether +3 (Bronze): A rope that can be extended and retracted at will. It is sticky and very hard to break, but vulnerable to cutting attacks. You can now control the extension and retraction speed, as well as it's stickiness. (All Attributes have been improved.)]
[Strength: 48 (+20)]
[Agility: 93 (+15)]
***
A/N: Hey guys if you're enjoying the story leave a powerstones and a review. They really help me out.